i've never been big on anime, and i've been trrying to get more into it recently.

what are some really down to earth, non-fantasy oriented anime? somethings more with real life situations, but spectacular writing. i have a hard time following most animes with their ridiculous plots and character designs

I'll go on to say the only anime I ever really, really, enjoyed was Case Closed. I'm not necesarilly interested in murder-mysteries, I just like somethting real, you know?

At 3/23/15 08:56 AM, NewgroundsNation wrote:
i've never been big on anime, and i've been trrying to get more into it recently.

what are some really down to earth, non-fantasy oriented anime? somethings more with real life situations, but spectacular writing. i have a hard time following most animes with their ridiculous plots and character designs

I'm generally in the same boat, in that the anime series I've enjoyed most have been more focused on real life type situations rather than the fantasy stuff. One that I enjoyed the most was Welcome to the NHK. It's basically about this guy who's a hermit (rarely leaves his apartment) and a girl who's taken it upon herself to change him. Really enjoyed it.

Then there was Ouran Highschool Host Club which looked super feminine and I never thought I was going to like it, but it had pretty good reviews so I gave it a shot and it was pretty decent. It's about a boyish looking girl who owes the school host club (all male) money or something and pays it off by working as a part of their club, with everyone thinking she's a guy. Sounds shit, was pretty funny and stuff.

If you ever do, please give the original SDF Macross the love it deserves instead of watching the chopped up and pasted together Frankenstein monster of a localization that is Robotech. Robotech has nostalgic value for those that saw it as kids, but since you sound like you've never seen it before I'd recommend you watch Macross properly first. SDF Macross is also my favourite anime of all time, so if I seem a bit pushy about it hopefully that explains why.

Plus, Robotech is a result of three unrelated anime series mushed together to create one series. The only good thing about Robotech is that it did gave anime a bit more exposure in the U.S.

Also it is the only reason why Mospaeda is still remembered somehow.

With that said, the funny thing is that the one thing that does connect those three unrelated series is that Mika Doi (the voice of an emo looking bridge bunny...then again she was kind of emo in the series) was casted in all three of them.

Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion are both sci fi but they're some of the best anime has to offer and are relatively big with western fans.

Baccano is another popular starting point, it's like an action-crime-mystery series with extreme violence but it does have supernatural elements.

If you want some really down to earth stuff, as in something you'd watch in live action without it being weird, I'd highly recommend the films 5 Centimeters per Second and Tokyo Godfathers. 5 Centimeteres is only about an hour long.

At 3/23/15 02:00 PM, TheMaster wrote:
Watamote.

This too. If you like "cringe comedy" or the likes of Peep Show and The Inbetweeners then Watamote is some end level shit. I can't think of another comedy anime even half as good. Pray for a second season. Some of the humor comes from making fun of common anime tropes though, I'm not sure how much of that you'd get.

At 3/22/15 06:00 PM, TheMaster wrote:
Moved into a new flat yesterday and was too tired to do anything today, so watched Dragon Ball Z Kai for 10 hours in a row.

To be fair to it, it moves along at a decent pace.

That's the purpose of Dragon Ball Z Kai; telling the story of DBZ without all of the filler. However, I'm slightly disappointed they didn't show, or at least mention, how Goku fell off of Snake Way and had to escape "the Home For Infinite Losers." Toonami just finished the Saiyan Saga, so that's the biggest difference I've seen so far with Kai.

Jack of all trades, Master of none
Head Scientist of NG Mafia
& proud member of Anime Club

I just watched the first episode of Space Battleship Yamato 2199. Although I did enjoy it, I'm wondering if it is worth watching if I've already seen the original series. I feel like I will already know a lot of the main plot points and that will decrease my enjoyment of the series. Then again, it has been many years since I watched the original television show.

What do you guys think? Is Space Battleship Yamato 2199 different enough to be worth watching or should I just find another series to watch?

At 3/24/15 04:45 PM, SentForMe wrote:
I just watched the first episode of Space Battleship Yamato 2199. Although I did enjoy it, I'm wondering if it is worth watching if I've already seen the original series. I feel like I will already know a lot of the main plot points and that will decrease my enjoyment of the series. Then again, it has been many years since I watched the original television show.

What do you guys think? Is Space Battleship Yamato 2199 different enough to be worth watching or should I just find another series to watch?

It's a fun light watch. There's a few changes to the story and it definitely has a different feel than the original did. I'd say stick with it for a little while and see what you think of it, I definitely enjoyed it despite the occasional sub-par CGI usage that completely takes you out of the show.

At 3/17/15 03:41 PM, Oolaph wrote:
If you ever do, please give the original SDF Macross the love it deserves instead of watching the chopped up and pasted together Frankenstein monster of a localization that is Robotech.

I've started watching Robotech and I'm 4 episodes in. I didn't intentionally disregard your comment about watching SDF Macross first, but I'd already ordered the complete Robotech set (was only £15) so made a start on it. So far so good to be honest. Probably not going to be something I'll be done with any time soon, but initial impression is that it'll be something I look forward to watching every once in a while.

I get that Robotech is basically 3 separate anime series combined under 1 name, but how much have they altered the content from the originals? When I first heard about Robotech a couple years back I was instantly put off by it being 3 series mashed into one because I misinterpreted it, I think. I assumed that it was 3 series chopped together and playing at the same time, where as now I get the impression that it goes from one series and then starts on another. That doesn't seem so bad, although I can imagine there'll be some weird attempts to make it all seem related?

At 3/24/15 04:54 PM, Oolaph wrote:
It's a fun light watch. There's a few changes to the story and it definitely has a different feel than the original did. I'd say stick with it for a little while and see what you think of it, I definitely enjoyed it despite the occasional sub-par CGI usage that completely takes you out of the show.

At 3/24/15 05:05 PM, Dean wrote:
I've started watching Robotech and I'm 4 episodes in. I didn't intentionally disregard your comment about watching SDF Macross first, but I'd already ordered the complete Robotech set (was only £15) so made a start on it. So far so good to be honest. Probably not going to be something I'll be done with any time soon, but initial impression is that it'll be something I look forward to watching every once in a while.

I get that Robotech is basically 3 separate anime series combined under 1 name, but how much have they altered the content from the originals? When I first heard about Robotech a couple years back I was instantly put off by it being 3 series mashed into one because I misinterpreted it, I think. I assumed that it was 3 series chopped together and playing at the same time, where as now I get the impression that it goes from one series and then starts on another. That doesn't seem so bad, although I can imagine there'll be some weird attempts to make it all seem related?

The shows aren't chopped up and edited together, it does simply go from one show to the next with lazy ties made between them. I haven't seen the other two shows that Robotech goes through, so I can't comment on those, but there's a decent bit of censoring in the Macross portion (removing shots of blood/gore, drinking, etc) and they make a giant change with what "protoculture" is. I won't go into it because of spoilers, but they really screw that stuff up. Other than that it's pretty standard dub changes, stuff like names and the personality of characters due to new voice actors.

So yeah, as far as '80s cartoons go Robotech isn't awful, but when put up against the original Macross it falls VERY short.

At 3/24/15 04:45 PM, SentForMe wrote:
I just watched the first episode of Space Battleship Yamato 2199. Although I did enjoy it, I'm wondering if it is worth watching if I've already seen the original series.

I left BBC America on a few days ago while doing internet stuff when Star Trek TNG came on and I noticed there was a ship in the episode called the Yamato. I remember hearing they snuck in a bunch of anime references in the show.

At 3/24/15 06:14 PM, Sense-Offender wrote:
I left BBC America on a few days ago while doing internet stuff when Star Trek TNG came on and I noticed there was a ship in the episode called the Yamato. I remember hearing they snuck in a bunch of anime references in the show.

Just another reason why TNG was the best Star Trek series. Sci-FI meets anime.

Yo guys. Been on a anime watching streak for a while now after a long break from it. Two questions. Is the new reboot of Neon Genesis Evangelion different enough from the old one to justify picking up? Also what series do you recommend? Like most anything except for overly excessive stuff like Elfen Lied where the entire show seemed to be about violence and romance with very little balancing stuff.

At 3/25/15 01:19 AM, FlashNinjitsu wrote:
Is the new reboot of Neon Genesis Evangelion different enough from the old one to justify picking up?

Sort of. I think they're definitely worth watching if you liked the original. The first film has minimal differences but the second changes things up and is genuinely one of the best action films I've seen. 3.0 takes a *massive* turn away from the plot of the original but is easily the weakest single piece of the main Eva series, cant go into why because spoilers.

At 3/25/15 01:19 AM, FlashNinjitsu wrote:
Is the new reboot of Neon Genesis Evangelion different enough from the old one to justify picking up?

Sort of. I think they're definitely worth watching if you liked the original. The first film has minimal differences but the second changes things up and is genuinely one of the best action films I've seen. 3.0 takes a *massive* turn away from the plot of the original but is easily the weakest single piece of the main Eva series, cant go into why because spoilers.

Thank you kindly. Always did love me some grim depressing robot fights with lots of the fuck is going on? Ordering up a boxset now.

Also on a unrelated note. I picked up Stein's Gate the other day and I have to say that it was rather good. Not my favorite ever but the entire thing was solid and had really good character dev that made me marathon the fairly short 10 hr series just to hangout with the group. Does anyone know of a similar type of character driven story like that? I usually pick up anime because of big robot fights and lovely cliches so this one pretty much hit me in the head with a brick and said to go watch some more substantial stuff.

I am seeing Asian version of Starship Troopers stamped so hard on this. Mobile infantry suits GOO!!! Thank you guys for your input. Gonna go off and grab these. It is really amazing how much I've missed from relying on 'Murican television. Gonna have to run over to one of those anime streaming sites once I get some decent internet and don't have to rely on boxsets.

At 3/23/15 10:38 AM, Dean wrote:
I'm generally in the same boat, in that the anime series I've enjoyed most have been more focused on real life type situations rather than the fantasy stuff. One that I enjoyed the most was Welcome to the NHK. It's basically about this guy who's a hermit (rarely leaves his apartment) and a girl who's taken it upon herself to change him. Really enjoyed it.

I'm definitely going to try that out now. It's been too long since I've sat down to watch anime, as I've practically been boring myself by watching the same generic stuff after a while. That one sounds promising. Thanks!

At 3/29/15 11:53 AM, DoctorStrongbad wrote:
I watched Sword Art Online 2 last night. The first episode was mostly talking and very little action.

Considering that it was an introduction episode, they figured that they would get the exposition out of the way and get to the action in the next episodes. Though in all this, it kind of makes me wonder how do they let VR devices that could potentially kill you out in the market in the first place? Other than rule of drama, of course.

At 3/29/15 11:53 AM, DoctorStrongbad wrote:
I watched Sword Art Online 2 last night. The first episode was mostly talking and very little action.

Considering that it was an introduction episode, they figured that they would get the exposition out of the way and get to the action in the next episodes. Though in all this, it kind of makes me wonder how do they let VR devices that could potentially kill you out in the market in the first place? Other than rule of drama, of course.

I just binged on both seasons of Gantz and I thought it was hands-down excellent. While the action scenes were admittedly terrible (someone throws acid at you, let's have a monologue while the acid flies through the air in slow motion but don't get out of the way) I was really drawn in by the extreme cynicism and grittiness that went beyond anything I'd seen in anime before.

One of the things that I found to be an incredible accomplishment was that I finished both seasons having some form of dislike for literally every single character that appeared, whereas other series created a sense of cynicism by targeting an innocent character (Speed Grapher) or instead tried to make gray characters likeable (Black Lagoon).

I have a feeling that the manga for Gantz will omit some of the cheesiness from the anime, but I'm also looking for something else that has a similar amount of crapsack world in it. Any recommendations?

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